Machine for seed celling previously cored apples

ABSTRACT

Apples which have been peeled and cored as with the machine shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,081 are discharged to an inspection station where they are inspected and any trimming required is done by hand. The apples selected for slicing are then sent on in bulk to the machine of the present invention wherein they are oriented, utilizing the cored hole in the apple, following which they are transferred from the orienting mechanism, taking advantage of the alignment provided by the cored hole. After the transfer they are moved to a station where they are cut to remove the fibrous carpel material surrounding the seeds together with the seeds. Following this operation, the apples are cut into segments as desired.

ite States Loveland MACHINE FOR SEED CELLING PREVIOUSLY CORED APPLES Malcolm W. Loveland, Orinda, Calif.

Assignee: Atlas Pacific Engineering Company,

Emeryville, Calif.

Filed: Nov. 21, 1973 Appl. No.: 417,725

Related [1.8. Application Data Division of Ser. No 283,919, Aug. 25, 1972.

Inventor:

US. Cl 198/259, 198/25, 198/131 Int. Cl. B65g 47/24 Field of Search 198/25, 103, 144, 131,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1967 Anderson et al. 198/258 6/1971 Loveland 198/258 3,602,281 8/1971 Anderson et a1. 198/259 Primary E.raminerRichard A. Schacher Assistant Examiner-Richard K. Thomson [57] ABSTRACT Apples which have been peeled and cored as with the machine shown in US. Pat. No. 3,586,081 are discharged to an inspection station where they are inspected and any trimming required is done by hand. The apples selected for slicing are then sent on in bulk to the machine of the present invention wherein they are oriented, utilizing the cored hole in the apple, fol

' lowing which they are transferred from the orienting mechanism, taking advantage of the alignment provided by the cored hole. After the transfer they are moved to a station where they are cut to remove the fibrous carpel material surrounding the seeds together with the seeds. Following this operation, the apples are cut into segments as desired.

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SHEET 1" OF 17 l MACHINE FOR SEED CELLING PREVIOUSLY CORE!) APPLES This is a division of application Ser. No. 283,919 filed Aug. 25, 1972.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION chine one at a time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The machine of the present invention permits the inspection and trimming of the whole peeled apple prior to seed celling and slicing. Thereafter a generally spherical cavity is cut to remove the fibrous carpel material surrounding the seeds together with the seeds. Thereafter the apple is cut into segments.

It is in general the broad object of the present invention to provide an improved machine for receiving peeled and cored apples in bulk for orientation. The oriented apples are then fed toa device in which a spherical cavity is cut to remove the fibrous carpel ma terial surrounding the seeds together with the seeds.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a cup-wheel and finger-type orientor having a plurality of cups extending horizontally across the machine and moving in parallel rows past a series of fingers which serve to move each apple into varying engagement with the rotating wheel.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a transfer unit which accepts or rejects an apple depending upon whether the core hole has been found by the transfer device.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a seed celling unit in which the cored apple slides down a spindle into position for the subsequent removal of the fibrous carpel material and the seeds in such material.

The following brief description will serve to set forth further features of the machine of the present invention.

Apples which have passed inspection and are of an acceptable quality are fed in bulk to a mechanism in which the apples are placed in single file in several parallel rows and are then fed to an orientor. The single filing and single feeding portion of the machine is largely conventional and one can refer to the US. Pat. No. 3 439 791 for such a mechanism. The next portion of the machine is the orientor in which several cups are provided in bars which extend transversely across the ma chine. Associated with each cup is a wheel while a series of depending fingers serve to move an apple into engagement with a wheel to orient the cored apple so that the core hole extends vertically. After the apple is oriented, it is passed to a transfer unit which includes pins of relatively small diameter which rise up through the hole in the bottom of the cup and threads into the core hole. These pins are relatively small, usually of the order of /a inch in diameter. The pins are provided with a bullet nose end which facilitates entry of the pin into the core hole. if the core hole has not been positioned so that the pin can enter, then the apple is lifted and pushed to one side or the other by the pin to roll freely into a reject chute for recycling.

Those apples which are threaded on the pins are held on the pins by curved plates as the conveyor carrying the orientor bars passes about the end sprockets supporting the conveyor. The curved plates continue down to within about 30 of the lowest most point of rotation of the sprockets. At this point the pin carrying the apple comes into alignment with a small diameter pin which is an elongation of the spindle with which seed celling will be achieved. As soon as both pins are substantially in alignment, the seed celling pin follows the motion of the first mentioned pin for about an inch and a half of its motion. During this following motion. the apple clears the end of the curved support plate and falls onto the seed celling pin where it is checked by a leaf spring stop at a point which will clear the next incoming apple. As soon as the apple leaves the first mentioned pin, the seed celling spindle retracts to its original position and waits to begin to track the next threading pin and apple.

During this dwell, the seed celling operation begins. As soon as the spindle is in its retracted position, a set of centering jaws moves into place above and below the apple resting on the leaf spring stop. The jaws are spring biased toward each other and close on the apple, centering the apple between them. The jaws are locked in this position until the apple moves to the seed cell cutting position. As the jaws close, they also move axially along the spindle carrying the apple past the leaf spring stop. The spindle is tapered? to full core hole size and has one or more seed cell shaped knives protruding radially therefrom. These knives are positioned on the spindle to be centered on the length of an apple when the jaws stop at the end of their down stroke.

As the apple approaches the seed cell cutting position, the apple is encompassed by a set of spring loaded arms which swing to allow the apple to enter and which press inwardly to resist the tendency for the apple to break as the seed cell knife rotates within it. These arms also have small axial protrusions on their inner faces to grip the outside of the apple and so resist the torque of cutting the seed cell. During the transfer of the apple into position for cutting the seed cell, the spindle carrying the seed cell knives has been station ary. Once the apple is in position, the spindle rotates at least one full turn to cut the seed cell free.

In the preferred form of a seed cell knife. I provide two loops arranged apart on the spindle. One knife cuts the upper third of the generally spherical cavity and the other knife cuts the lower third. This effectively divides the cell material into three segments which, upon being cut by the slicing knives, become comparatively small units, easily separated from the slices. A further advantage is the reduction in the tendency of the apple to burst during cutting of the seed cell.

With the apple centered on the seed cell knives, the centering jaws open to clear the largest apple and re' tract from the spindle to clear a large apple in the seed cell position as the jaws move upward to engage the next incoming apple. This motion places a fixed finger above the apple undergoing seed celling so that, as the centering jaws move the next apple into position for seed celling, the previously seed celled apple is moved onward. The apple is moved through a slicing grid which preferably includes a number of knives radiating outwardly from a seed celling spindle so as to produce orange segment-like slices, although one can use two opposite knives to cut the apple in half.

Some of the features of advantage in the above are as follows:

1. The pin threading system of accepting oriented or rejecting unoriented apples.

2. The transfer of apples to the celling spindle extension as it follows the threading pin briefly. This following is important to gain time for the apple to fall sufficiently to engage the extended spindle. Without the following action, the speed would be drastically limited, say, 30 or 40 apples per minute instead of 100 or more per spindle.

3. The centering of the apple on the seed cell knife has not been achieved except in an elementary way in US. Pat. No. 2,808,869 to Ganze. All slicers heretofore partially impaled the apple on the slicing knives .to absorb the torque of seed celling. This prevented any reference to the bottom of the apple to determine where the center of the apple was located. Ganze used a spring over travel pusher arm and the penetration of the knives into the apple. As long as the apple size and consistency remained constant, the Ganze device would be successful. By seed celling out of contact with the slicing knives, I am able to center the apple properly for I can refer to both the top and the bottom of the apple.

4. A further advantage is that in the prior art devices, the apple entering the celling station had to push the previous apple about half way through the slicing knives. This resulted in shattering many apples.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the complete machine providing the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the path of travel of an apple through the machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an apple showing how it appears after the seed cell has been removed and it has passed through the slicing device to cut the apple into orange segment-like sections.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of that portion of the machine in which the apples are taken from bulk and placed in several rows in each of which the apples are in single file for orientation.

FIG. 5 is a section taken along the line 55 in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing a portion of the orienting mechanism and its drive.

FIG. 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a section taken through the line 88 in FIG. 7 showing an apple undergoing orientation.

FIG. 9 is a partial side elevation taken along the line 99 in FIG. 10 and'illustrating the pickup of an apple from the orienting conveyor with the core hole in the apple aligned with the transfer spindle and the subsequent transfer of the apple to the spindle upon which the apple slides into position for subsequent removal of the seed cell.

FIG. 10 is a partial front elevation showing the action of the pin and the dislodging of an apple which has not been threaded by the pin.

FIG. 11 is a side elevation taken through the mechanism for raising and lowering the jaws and oscillating the spindle on which the apple is subsequently cut to remove the seed cell.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view showing the mechanism for the movement of the jaws to grip the apple.

FIG. 13 is a side elevational portion of the mechanism for locking one of the gripping arms.

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 12 but with the arms in open position.

FIGS. 15, 16 and 17 are, respectively, views taken along the lines l5--l5, l616 and l717 in FIG. 12.

FIG. 18 is a section taken along the line 18-18 in FIG. 11.

FIG. 19 is an enlarged view in which the arrows on opposite sides of the apple indicate the gripping force supplied by the gripping jaws with the seed cell knives cutting the carpel tissue and seeds from the apple.

FIGS. 20, 21 and 22 are, respectively, sections taken along the lines 20-20, 21-21 and 22-22 in FIG. 18.

FIG. 23 is a section taken along the line 2323 in FIG. 11.

FIG. 24 is a side elevation showing the spindle oscillating.

FIGS. 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 are, respectively, taken along the lines 25-25, 26-26, 2727, 2828 and 2929 in FIG. 23 showing various operating mechanisms.

FIG. 30 is a perspective view showing the various drive mechanisms.

FIG. 31 is a side elevation of the machine also showing various of the drive mechanisms employed.

FIG. 32 is a side elevation partly in section showing the transfer of the apple on the centering pin to the pin forming a part of the seed celling mechanism.

FIG. 33 is a view similar to FIG. 32 showing an apple ready to be centered and moved downwardly toward engagement with the seed celling mechanism, the preceding apple being shown in position on the seed celling mechanism and engaged by the gripping jaws to be held against rotation during seed celling.

FIG. 34 is a view similar to FIGS. 32 and 33 showing the advance of the apple and the partial discharge of the preceding apple from the seed celling spindle.

FIG. 35 shows the fully cut condition of the previously seed celled apple with the succeeding apple being seed celled.

FIG. 36 is a timingchart showing the relative timing of several of the operations involved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. 1, 4, 5 and 30, apples which have been previously peeled, cored and inspected are delivered into a pan 101. The pan is mounted upon a frame 102 which is supported upon opposite links 103 and 104 which in turn are mounted upon a sub-frame 106. Eccentrics 107 are mounted upon opposite ends of a drive shaft 108 and rod 111 extends rearwardly from each to engage frame 102. The rotation of shaft 108 is effective to rock frame 102 and pan 101 back and forth.

The pan 101 generally slopes downwardly from right to left in FIG. 5 and at its lower end I provide a plurality of V-shaped projections 112 (FIG. 4). Apples ride between the V-shaped projections and so are urged into single file. Rubber paddles are counterrotated by shaft 120 above the V-shaped projections 112 to prevent apples from passing through except one at a time. As the apples fall off the end 113 of each pair of the V- shaped projections, they are guided by a chute 115 to 

1. In an apparatus for removing the seed cell from a previously cored apple including: a. a conveyor having a plurality of cavities therein, each cavity being conical in shape and having an opening on the underside, b. the conveyor being movable over a path having upper and lower horizontal runs connected by a semicircular run at each end, c. a rotatable support provided within one of the semicircular runs of the conveyor, d. a plurality of first pins slidably mounted on the rotatable support and extending radially from the support, e. means for moving each of the first pins first to project into the opening in a cavity on the conveyor and then to extend into the core hole in an apple in said cavity and finally to be withdrawn from said core hole and the cavity after the apple has fallen down the first pin, f. a curved plate having a curvature on a radius extending from the center of one of the semicircular runs of the conveyor to engage and support an apple on a first pin as the pin approaches a transfer point at the lower end of the semicircular run, g. and a second pin movable over a path to follow the first pin at said transfer point to enter the core hole in an apple on the first pin and engage the apple as the apple falls down the first pin after which the first pin is withdrawn from the apple.
 2. In an apparatus for removing the seed cell in an apple as in claim 1 including means for moving an apple on the second pin downwardly and into engagement with means positioned below the second pin for engaging the sides of the core hole in the apple.
 3. In an apparatus for removing the seed cell from a previously cored apple including: a. a conveyor having a plurality of cavities therein, each cavity being conical in shape and having an opening on the underside, b. the conveyor being movable over a path having upper and lower horizontal runs connected by a semi-circular run at each end, c. a rotatable wheel provided beneath each cavity to engage an apple therein to orient the apple with its core hole in a vertical position, d. a rotatable support provided within one of the semi-circular runs of the conveyor, e. a plurality of pins slidably mounted on the rotatable support and extending radially from the support, f. and means for moving each of the pins first to project into the opening in a cavity on the conveyor and then to extend into the core hole in an apple in said cavity to maintain the orientation of the apple in the cavity.
 4. In an apparatus as in claim 3, a curved plate having a curvature on a radius extending from the center of one of the semi-circular runs of the conveyor to engage and support an apple on a pin as the pin approaches a transfer point at the lower end of the semi-circular run.
 5. In an apparatus as in claim 4, a plurality of other pins movable over a path such that each of the other pins follows one of the aforementioned pins at said transfer point to enter the core hole in an apple and engage the apple as the apple falls free from the aforementioned pin and as the aforementioned pin is withdrawn from the apple. 